Improvement in curing tobacco



A. P. POLADURA,.

Curing Tobacco.

No. 212,399. Patented Feb. 18, 1879.

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,MQMM @gi/ fx1/Mo BT Uiv'rimn'.)A STATES PATENT OFFICEc ALEJANDRO P. POLADURA, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CURING TOBACCO.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 212,399, dated February 18, 1879; application led May 24, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEJANDRO PEREZ POL- ADURA, a resident of the city of New Orleans, parish of Orleans, and State of Louisiana, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Process of Curing Tobacco and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and correct description of the same,ref erence being had to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification.

This invention consists in steeping tobaccoleaves in hot water two, three, or four minutes in a vessel, then withdrawing the hot water from the vessel and subjecting them in the same vessel to pressure while hot sufficiently to expel the nicotine and other impurities from the tobacco also, the novelty consists in the means for carrying out the process, as will 'be hereinafter more fully set forth.

-Inthe process nowin use for curing and preparing, the leaf-tobacco is suspended within a steaming-vessel provided with a steam-pipe, subjected to the action of steam for about two and one-half or three hours, then removing the tobacco-leaves from the steam-chamber to another vessel for the press. While the tobacco is being removed or changed from one vessel to another it is exposed to the atmosphere, which chills it and closes the pores of the leaves, thereby deteriorating the quality of the tobacco; besides, in this process an extra vessel is required.

To remedy these defects-to wit, handling the tobacco, exposing the tobacco to the air while under treatment, also dispensing with a vessel-is the main object of my invention.

Another important feature in this invention consists in thefact that tobacco-leaves treated by my process are in no way affected by the atmosphere, for the reason that the moistureabsorbing material (potassa, soda, &c.) cou- ,tained in the leaves is, by means of the hot water, dissolved and removed therefrom while the leaves are hot, and consequently they may be worked up into cigars equally as well in damp as in clear weather.

To fully comprehend the nature of my invention, reference must be had to the annexed drawing, whereon an apparatus for carrying out my process is clearly illustrated.

The letterA represents a steam-boiler, from which a pipe, b, extends, to conveyr steam to a press-cylinder, C.

Between the aforesaid boiler and cylinder is formed a railway, D, on which traverses a car,

E, of the construction substantially as shown. This car is provided, at afew inches above its bottom, with a perforated diaphragm or bottom, f, and with stop-cocks g g.

The leaf-tobacco to be treated, known as the ordinary sun-dried, is first placed in this car, then moved up to the boiler, and hot water discharged therefrom through a suitable cock, h, upon the tobacco in the car. Vhen the car is about filled the supply of hot water is shut oft', and the car, with load, run under the steam-cylinder O upon the railway, as shown, where the tobacco is afterward subjected to pressure. The leaf-tobacco remains steeped in the hot water about two or three minutes, so as to be saturated with the hot water, thereby softening the tobacco and opening the pores thereof, and the hot water then withdrawn from the car through the stop-cocks g g. The steeped tobacco, while hot, is now subjected to pressure, while in the car, by the downward movement of the follower t', attached to the lower end of the piston-rod 7c, to remove the Water remaining therein, as well as a further percentage ofthe absorbing moisture, and at the same time expel the nicotine and other impurities from the tobacco. l

To operate the follower t, steam is admitted into the cylinder C from the steam-boiler A through the pipe b and its stop-cock L. All

the water being removed from the car, the tobacco, subjected to pressure, removed from the car, and spread out to dry, is then in aproper or fit condition tobeworked up into cigars.

The above-described process, it will be observed, is carried out continuously in the car or vessel-that is to say, the tobacco-leaves are steeped and pressed in the same vessel. By this process the grade of the tobacco is materially improved by reason of the sharp, rank taste being destroyed and the impurities injurious to health removed.

Gi gars manufactured from tobacco thus treated burn perfectly even, smoke quite freely, and have a mild and pleasant taste.

What l claim as my invention is 1. The process herei'nbefore set forth of reboiler and steam-cylinder' frame, adapted to receive a car having a perforated diaphragm and stop-cock, all arranged to operate in the nanhner as described, and for the purpose set ort In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name.

ALEJANDRO PEREZ POLADURA.

In presence of- J C. HUBBELL, JAMES G. KIDDELL. 

